The All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has asked the Peoples Democratic Party standard bearer, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to “step down from the presidential race, having run unsuccessfully too many times.”
Tinubu gave the advice at Oporoza, headquarters of Gbaramatu kingdom of Delta State, while meeting with traditional rulers and stakeholders of the Niger Delta region.
Addressing the monarchs and stakeholders who had thronged the creeks to receive him on Friday, Tinubu said, “As I stand before you, there are few of us running. One says he is Atiku, how many times has he been running? He is now tired of running. Let’s tell him to go and sit down and quit the race. Enough is enough.”
Tinubu also described the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, as a man that was not wanted by Nigerians because “he lies with arithmetic that no mathematician can solve.”
“To mention his name is a disgrace to me. He gives out wrong arithmetic and wrong statistics on the economy. That is not what Nigerians want. Nigerians need honesty, they need the man who knows the road to take, and that man is me,” Tinubu stated.
He identified himself as a son in-law of the Niger Delta and appealed for support in the electioneering campaign, promising to carry everyone along, develop the area and renew the hope of the people.
Earlier, the governorship candidate of the APC in the state, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, said when elected as President, Tinubu would construct an access road to Gbaramatu kingdom.
He further assured that before the general election in 2023, the legal framework for the implementation of the Maritime University, Okerenkoko, would be ready for assent by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
The traditional ruler of Gbaramatu kingdom, Oboro Gbaruan II, hosted the meeting and conferred chieftaincy titles on Tinubu, Omo-Agege and others.
The monarch requested access road to his kingdom when Tinubu emerged.
In Tinubu’s entourage to the Niger Delta creeks were Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, his Yobe State counterpart, Mai Buni; the ministers of State for Petroleum Resources and that of Labour and Productivity, Timipre Sylva and Festus Keyamo respectively; former House of Representatives Speaker, Dimeji Bankole; Senator Omo-Agege’s running mate, Friday Osanebi; Delta APC Chairman, Chief Oseni Sobotie; Delta APC Campaign Director-General, Godsday Orubebe and a Bayelsa State APC chieftain, David Lyon, among others.